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In Mali the process of preparing a PRSP was relatively long–drawn–out, partly because of the way it interacted with the timetable of political change in the country. This article explains how this had some benefits in terms of a maturing of government, NGO and donor attitudes in a nation that has been both highly aid–dependent and the focus of DAC–led efforts to improve aid co–ordination. It is argued, however, that significant constraints remain to transforming this good will into effective anti–poverty action, including weak policy–making capacities and incentives in government service, the slowness of public finance reform and the uneven progress in eliminating supply–driven aid and lending, and the use of parallel funding channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]